Those who have selflessly served in the military are a considerable part of the University’s population – many of them sit alongside us in class.
As an editorial board, we feel that the student body generally lacks awareness about this special group among us. Veterans walk an untraditional path into higher education and as a result, their experience at the University will be a different one.
While some students struggle with time management, our veteran students struggle to adjust to the freedom and relaxed atmosphere of university life because the military is such a structured environment.
As students, we also tend to be more aware of an older classmate; according to Michael Pischner, the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the average age of veterans on campus is 29.7.
“For a lot of veterans, they have kids that are the same age as the people they go into the class with and it is like ‘I am taking this very seriously but you are not’,” said Christopher Johnson, a senior studying information technology and who served in the Army. “It creates almost like a situation where you can be ostracized without even really thinking about it.”
We implore you to understand the dynamic veteran students are facing on campus and in class. As students who have lived and grown in the country our peers have fought for, we take their sacrifices for granted.
We ask the FIU community and our fellow students to recognize their peers who have served and who have come to the University to continue to better themselves and find careers beyond tomorrow’s Veteran’s Day.
Whether you agree with the wars we’ve been a part of or not, these students’ service to their country is a source of pride and a step the majority of us will never take. Now, these individuals are juggling work, sometimes families and their education, all while undergoing retraining of their entire lifestyles and psyche in order to come to classes.
The last thing they need is to be met with peers with a lack of compassion or gratitude.
Image retrieved from Flickr.
About Post Author
